Property Management Software Comparison

Factors to be considered before purchasing Property Management Software

Property Type

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Property type indicates the ability of the software to handle the accounting, leasing and other activities for different types of properties. Commercial or retail properties vary significantly from the residential ones. Critical activities such as type of leases, CAM reconciliation, utility rebilling etc vary significantly across property types. Even within residential properties, accounting for associations varies significantly compared to single family homes or to multi-family residential apartments. The software should be able to cater to the needs of different types of properties within your portfolio.

Having a comprehensive and easy to use property management section is one of the key requirements of most property managers. The software should provide a wide range of dashboard options that highlight critical operating information such as vacancy %, soon to expire leases, outstanding rents etc. It should also enable the property manager to perform tasks such tenant screening, processing move-ins and move-outs, send collection emails/letters, place maintenance requests, raise POs and work orders.

Integrated communication tools with property managers, comprehensive list of management reports and financial statemens, insightful dashboards with key operating/financial information makes the tracking by and reporting to owner much easier. An owner section is particularly critical for owners who have a few properties and hence share property managers.

Reporting

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Most property management companies nowadays provide a comprehensive list of month-end/quarter-end financials covering rent rolls, vacancy and collection status, financial statements such as cash flows and multiple operating information reports. A good property management software has a significant array of tools such as graphs, dashboards, pie-charts, to visually represent the information. Also, flexibility in templates and easy design of custom reports are additional prerequisites.

Marketing

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Quickly reducing vacancies is a critical performance requirement of any property manager. Good software have tight well thought out integrations with various leasing/housing websites. Breadth of tenant sites covered is a critical comparative feature. Also, for commercial and retail property management firms, having lead tracking and sales funnel management features in the software could be critical to drive conversions.

Support

Good support from the software provider is critical for any property management company particularly in the transition/set-up phase. A strong support team is a big plus point for any software company.

Data Management

New age property management software have inbuilt document management software capabilities. By attaching documents such as real estate tax notices, vendor invoices, utility bills, insurance invoices, mortgage statements to the specific transactions, the property managers and accounting staff can readily access the source document when needed. This also helps in properties that undergo audit and also in placing replacement reserve requests to banks/financial institutions.